Song Of Sanctuary
by mistarrymistress
Summary: A collection of dead angels/humans/martyrs/sinners… Your typical Angel “Sanctuary”. Souls lost in remorse, in purgatory, unable to move on. This is their story... If nothing else, it's theirs.
1. Enter Name

CHAPTER 1: ENTER: NAME...

"What's your name?"

//view;;//

Open digital eye.

//blink.//

"Mine's Teiaiel."

//hello, Teiaiel.//

"But you can call me Tiara."

//revolution.swing.//

"Is this where the dead angels gather?"

//paranormal.view.open.//

The darkness faded from Tiara's eyes and light shone down from an unidentified sun. Artificial. Nevertheless, Tiara blinked, surprised she could still feel the glare of light. She looked around, and saw a human teenage girl with round glasses sitting on a swing; perfectly calm with a patient smile, her school uniform swaying in the breeze.

The girl giggled. "What do you think?"

_What YOU think is more of an issue, _thought Tiara. Her mind instantly without prompting, almost subconsciously, opened onto a different plane, one where others' thoughts were as plain to her as bold text. There, she saw that the girl was dead. Just like her. Killed because of Rosiel. Just like her.

_My name is Ruri Saiki. I used to live on Earth. Now I live here. Can you hear me? _

Tiara nodded. This girl was painfully honest. There were the thoughts that she formulated into sentences for Tiara to hear, but there were also disconnected, fragmented memories of violence, pain, and the shimmering beauty of angel wings.

"And… where is here?" Tiara asked.

"Angel Sanctuary. Isn't it pretty?"

_//---// _

_DIIIIIEEEE!!!!!!!!!_

[death. [God's judgement. [will punish.

[eliminate [Sara Mudo [hate. [I hate Sara Mudo

[Angel Sanctuary [Lapis… Lapis Lazuli

[Setsuna [Savior… [save me

[death.

[God's judgement

[Forgive me. [Sara. [Setsuna.

//---//

Tiara collapsed to the ground. Wind howled; Ruri was still sitting, still smiling. Tiara brought her hands up to her face, shielding it from the world, as if that would block out Ruri's painful memories.

Ruri smiled, sweetly, painfully, apologetic, yet somehow distanced, and said, "Yes, another's memories are hardest to bear, aren't they?"

* * *

AN: Oh hi. I wasn't aware I had an audience. Well I suppose you're there if you can read this. This is another philosophically-related tangent my brain decided to take an escorted trip on. Who knows, it might grow into something yet… ;P 

I guess you could say it's a collection of dead angels/humans-martyrs/humans-sinners… A typical Angel "Sanctuary". Souls lost in remorse, in purgatory, unable to move on. This is their story. Not sure of WHAT the story is, or HOW it's going to play out, but it's theirs. And that's something to take into account, hey?

PS above, in the short mini-recollections of Ruri's there's meant to be a close-bracket.. but it's not showing! GRR!


	2. Whispers

AN: hiya hiya, minna-san! I am hyper. Therefore the prediction for this chapter is: Very Tragic. Don't ask me why, when I'm happy I tend to cause major distress for my poor characters. Or not… oh I have no idea. Just read.

* * *

CHAPTER 2: Whispers

"We have no purpose," smiled Ruri sadly. _All she ever does these days is smile sadly and say completely depressing, irrelevant things_, thought Tiara.

But she didn't really say anything because there was nothing to say. Her consciousness drifted up and down, not sure of itself, sometimes there, sometimes somewhere else, not sure where it really should be. If something seemed to be happening in the deserted prairie of Angel Sanctuary, such as Ruri saying something, then she would only half-notice it. The rest of her drifted.

After Tiara had recovered from the shock of Ruri's memories, she had listened while Ruri told her of Angel Sanctuary: the digital time-magic computer game that had consumed the life of Ruri and many others in the scheme to free Lord Rosiel. It didn't really touch her at al, if not for the fact that Katan had been the one who had thought it up. She had already known all this from Katan's memories, but to hear of the consequences from one of the victims was a totally different take.

Another painful, miserable experience.

She had known that the lady who collected her from the slums of Heaven wasn't really helping her – after all, her thoughts had been open. She had known everything… Except for what the future held.

A future she thought, for several peaceful days, was going to be good. Her and Katan, in heaven. If they could just not sin ever again, then it would have worked. _It's not scary if we're together…_Then the men came for Rosiel, and shot her through fear, suspicion… A whirl of thoughts, until they realised she was just a little girl. And then Katan had snapped… He'd turned back into a monster, and tore them up, as she blacked out… into the remnants of time/space-magic that Angel Sanctuary had become.

After the world of Angel Sanctuary, the channel Rosiel used to come back from exile, had served its purpose, it had been left behind, forgotten, floating around in the abyss between the worlds of Heaven – Yetzirah, Hell – Gehenna, and Earth – Assiah. Not to mention the separated worlds of Atziluth and Hades.

A safety net for falling souls.

There weren't all that many souls dying then since Time on Earth had stopped, while angels, demons and people dying in any of the remaining two worlds were shipped off to their destination, their goal in life fulfilled.

Only the stragglers got caught in the web of mechanical guts that made up the illusory world of AS. People who had at least something to do with the three-winged angels: Rosiel, Alexiel, Setsuna, and perhaps – Adam Kudamon. If they were lucky.

It was time magic that had touched them and time magic that held them. Until the resolution on Assiah, they were held back by an invisible grip, as strong as the one that held Assiah.

"If we have no purpose, then why are we here?" Tiara countered.

"Isn't that the way it's always been?"

"No."

Tiara did not care to elaborate. She was not a chatty person at the best of times; and being dead did nothing to improve her social conscience.

"Why not?" Ruri didn't really care about people's social consciences or lack thereof. Not since _she_ too became dead, anyway.

"If we have no purpose…" Tiara stopped, trying to collect her mind that had been wandering all over the space/time stream. She had _known_ the answer to this question; otherwise she would have ended herself long ago. It suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world to answer this question for Ruri. She didn't care about Ruri, it was true, she cared even less about herself. But since Ruri had stated their lack of purpose it seemed as though she should… For, even though she was dead, why _was_ she here indeed? And why was Ruri here?

If there was one thing Tiara had gained from years of people's thoughts crowding into her head was that everything was somehow connected. Somehow. Even if by the thinnest string of coincidence, there was a cause, effect, resolution, and continuation.

"NO!" Tiara didn't care that she had shouted. She needed to. Coming into contact with other people's emotions so much had made her hate her own. She'd bottled them all up and what better way was there to release them than to just scream.

"NOOOOOOO! We do have a purpose! Nothing is created without aim! (see AN) Even if it is, it is given an aim upon creation! Especially people! We're here to each tell a story! Our story! We ARE the story! We're given a chance at life and that is the greatest thing we had ever been given, for at least we can formulate an opinion on whether or not we like the life we're given! Don't you understand? Something is better than nothing." Here Tiara lowered her voice to a whisper.

"I don't think you know what it feels like to be truly dead, Ruri. I know. I know everything about you. You will never know what it is to be dead until you've been alive in the first place. To be dead, to be NOTHING, is a void. There is no way it can be preferable to even the deepest lowest darkness and hatred. I've been to the darkness and the hatred. And that was bliss in comparison with nothing. Nothing tore you apart with its emptiness. It tore you apart because you were nothing and didn't deserve to be recognised as a something. At least misery keeps you together. Nothing can tear you apart so much more than you yourself ever will with self-loathing."

Tiara could see from Ruri's face and Ruri's mind that she thought Tiara was babbling like a lunatic. Then a dawn of recognition fleeted into the deepness of Ruri's conscious, and Ruri said, "So what you're saying is… our purpose is to BE?"

"Y-yes…" Tiara faltered, having expended so much emotion and conviction in one outburst that she really had none much left.

Ruri twirled a flower in her hand. Tiara had suddenly noticed the surroundings so much more. Everything seemed more real, everytime she made an effort to be real. _I guess this place changes depending on your involvement within it._

Ruri slowly picked the petals off the flower and discarded after she was through with it. "Okay. So what's our purpose, besides being here?"

"I don't know. A lot of it has to do with faith. You're here until you're called upon to do something. There's always an ongoing plan for your presence... anyone's really."

"Ah. Well that's something I can't believe. My life has been wasted. End of story."

And for once Tiara wished that people could read _her_ mind. Anyone could see that though she really did get a lot of crap, Ruri had been there for a reason. Namely, to resurrect Rosiel and to start the Assiah/Gehenna/Yetzirah war all over again. _Pretty major role, if you ask me._ Tiara shook her head. _Why am I getting so involved? What should I care about anything? I'm dead. Meant to be in Heaven, but obviously I wasn't good enough… _

"Well. What an interesting discussion. Mind if I join?" A stranger to both Ruri and Tiara sat down a few feet away from them, appearing out of nowhere. It seems they weren't the only ones caught in the Angel Sanctuary database.

* * *

AN: umm, okay technically there IS something created for specifically no purpose. I mean, random forms of gloob that you do in ceramics don't count cuz they were intended to relieve you of boredom, so there's a purpose right there. What I'm talking about is the REAL no-purpose things. Shindogu (memorise this, Japan-obsessive freaks like me) – is a Japanese-based (though the whole world is in on it now) art form of invention where the invention is something intended to be so impractical that it's crazy to have been invented in the first place. It's not made for money. It's not made for practicality or usability. It's not made to be looked at. It's made to BE. It's made to exist to prove that the useless can exist with a defined cause. (HA! Sounds like humanity) So, technically, it does have a purpose. Ish. Like… oh I dunno. Look it up on the net, some of them are really amusing. Like the toilet-roll-attached-to-head thing so that you have a roll of toilet paper on your head every time you get hayfever and need a tissue. See? Impractical, no-one would ever use it, but it's highly honoured among the shindogu-ians. Perfect – a cause without a cause. So yeah seriously, there are a whole lot of people who spend all their time thinking up something that would have exactly no reason to be.

Beautiful theology. I wonder if in the future robots will try this exact same thing and generate life-forms made of flesh and bone and dub them "humans" as the ultimate shindogu...


	3. In Effect

CHAPTER 3: In Effect

"Seems like there are more souls than I thought here. What have you two ladies been occupying your time with?" The stranger asked.

"Up till recently; living." Ruri said.

Tiara began to lose focus in the conversation again. Where would it lead anyway?

"Ah, that's what we all say." The mysterious blonde picked up the petals of the flower Ruri had thrown away, and made a circle of them on the grass.

Disinterested as Tiara was, she couldn't help but notice the stranger's… strangeness. Firstly, the ghost – because that was what they all currently were – couldn't be immediately picked out as a female/male. The fluid, graceful actions and well-kept physical appearance denoted femininity; yet there was a strong, stubborn feeling behind the pretty exterior. Very confusing. Tiara was suddenly shy in the presence of this unknown.

"Ah, where are my manners? My name is… was… should be…"

_Arachne. _Tiara caught a sudden glimpse of this man's –it was a man- life.

"You're the cast-off Prince of Gehenna," Tiara said bluntly. A lot of things had changed in her demeanour since her death—after all, everything she'd hoped Life was, turned out to be false. The reason she was who she was in Life had been overthrown; and bitterness and longing filled up the places where previously she had faith.

"Arachne." The man chuckled. His voice sounded so much like a woman's, though. "Cast-off? One has to be used first before being cast off. I was never of any use except to represent a lie. And anyway, I stopped being a Prince a while back. Now – I'm just Arachne, still part of the Royal Family, yet nowhere near the throne."

"Was, you mean. You're dead now." Tiara blinked at him.

"That doesn't mean anything's changed. I chose who I wanted to be in life; unlike others. Therefore I get a right to my identity even after life, don't you think?"

Throughout the conversation little bits of memory had come unbidden to Tiara. Yes, he was born as a man… But his soul, as he maintained, was a woman's… He'd lived under a lie, twice, and only in death did he allow himself to be truthful. To everyone.

"Any idea what those morons left alive are up to?"

"No…" Ruri and Tiara both answered.

"Then shouldn't we take a look?" Arachne stood up. Tiara made a note to think of him as her; it was all she could do for Arachne right now. The landscape around them changed; they were suddenly in Anagura. The place was littered with bodies, dead and dying. Ahead, a castle rose into view: battered and broken. It was the castle of Anagura, right after the big war, before Kurai had officially been declared Princess. "Ah, dammit, it's taken us back. All this time magic has to be bad for the soul." Arachne flipped her blonde hair, exasperated.

Tiara stared blankly at the scene of carnage before her. Ruri was shuddering; obviously more affected by mass destruction than her two companions. "Who – who are these… people?"

Arachne looked at the mess of Anagurans, devils, demons and dragons, here and there a shining angel's wing, buried under blood and grime. "Idiots. Or shall I say puppets, ruled by idiots."

And she walked on, towards the half-ruined castle.

"Wait! Shouldn't… can't… we do something for them?" Ruri, still effectively blanching, called out.

"No." Arachne and Tiara said, at the same time. They turned their back on the shell-shocked Ruri, continuing on to the castle, eager to find what they should not in a pile of bones- that is, not the literal one. Left outside, Ruri gazed about at her surroundings. She could see angels, and she could see monstrosities from the very depths of Hell. But Death had not shown any discrimination, piling them up upon one another, taking their lives and leaving their broken husks.

A tear made its way down Ruri's face. One drop along the curved shape of her left cheekbone. She had believed her death – any death – was pointless, except to end the suffering one endures. That salvation exists for those tortured in life, which itself was pointless, except to endure suffering to gain salvation in death. And seeing the masses of useless bodies laid before her, like her own private unmoving cinema, she felt confused. She felt like she was violating a mass grave; even though she had made no conscious decision to dig up those thousands of memories…

If their lives were so pointless, and their deaths so massive, what possible salvation could there be? The answer remains that the only purpose one must have is in life. But this again made no sense. Life was pointless, right? Her death and life held no real meaning. RIGHT? She had a destiny. It didn't matter what she did; it was all planned out.

"You know, one chooses one's own path far before they are born. But just because you choose it before it happens doesn't mean that you don't choose. You do. You just don't remember it. And no one but you can decide what you will do. So in effect, you live your life day by day. You just had to sign a contract that you would do so before you started. Please don't think life is pointless. Just because it has a predestined direction doesn't mean you get no say."

Ruri spun around at the words to find two women standing before her. They were… clearly angels; even if she couldn't see any proof. She could feel their astral presences rather than see them, and it was overpowering her. The white… feeling… emitting from them was so strong that she had no choice but to give up consciousness. As she faded, she heard the same voice repeat inside her head; _One chooses one's own path… Don't think life is pointless…doesn't mean… you get no say._

"So all those people… they really chose to die?" Ruri couldn't see the massacre anymore, but it was foremost in her mind.

The white voice replied, "Yes, Ruri. You chose your path. Have no regrets… Only lessons learned."

_That wasn't really my question… but it doesn't matter… It's been answered._

The two women looked up; the last particles of Ruri's soul were drifting upwards. "Well, at leasn't they aren't sinking or internally combusting." The second, as yet unheard voice, said.

"Indeed. I think perhaps we came at the right time." The first angel replied, sighing, dropping all angelic pretence. "We're no more angels than those dead ones are."

"Anael?"

"Yes, Lailah?"

"We _are_ dead."

"I know that. I just meant… I don't know what I meant."

"Whatever you think, I still say you looked like an angel then."

"It worked on Ruri, whatever it was."

"Whatever it was." Lailah sighed. "I still dislike you."

"Fine with me. We have eternity."

"We just saved one soul, but who will save ours?"

"Who knows, two fools pretending to be angels might just come along." Anael looked into the distance, thinking it was a great coincidence that two other spectres were emerging from the distant castle.

"You weren't being sarcastic, were you."

"No."

"I was afraid of that."

Tiara waved from the distance, sullenly. Arachne just kept waking towards them. In no time, they made their way towards Lailah and Anael. Tiara stayed silent.

"Hey. Didn't know you broads stuck around as well." Arachne flashed a charming smile and flicked her hair.

"Technically, my broad's still walking." Lailah said.

"Never mind, just pretend I didn't say that."

"We will." Anael replied, her face perfectly calm. "I am Anael, and this is Lailah."

* * *

AN: Long time no write, sorry. I guess I don't have as much to blab about here as last time(s). As usual, you can all see my wonderful sense of tact is still intact, especially in dealing with multiple broads. And furthermore, I am working my way towards introducing/getting rid of more and more people/angels/demons. You guys have worked out the main gist right? People with problems stay behind. People who have solved theirs evaporate. Great. You're all with me. PLEASE REVIEW!!


	4. The Freedom Of Speech

CHAPTER 4:

AN: I do hope the people reading this here today have expected this story to abandon all normality; and/or resemblance to an actual story. Like I said, this is mainly a way to let out some of the rampaging ideas in my head. Read only if you want a philosophical discussion.

Are you feeling crazy? I recommend Akeboshi. Or Helalyn Flowers. Depends, if you want soft or heavy.

* * *

CHAPTER 4: The Freedom Of Speech

"So, I'm just curious, how does it feel to be a shining angel bathed in sin?" Arachne smoked on a cigarette that seemed to come from nowhere; the four of them standing around the ruins of Anagura.

Anael stared into the eye sockets of a half-rotted out bull head near her feet. "Human." Picking up the skull and making it disappear in her hands, she added, "it feels alive."

"Hmm." Arachne took a long slow drag on her cigarette. "Funny. Ironic." Another drag. "It's sad that you're both dead. All the smart ones who might actually know what to do about society die."

"Tell me about it," muttered Lailah. Then in an audible tone, she continued, "Die, or at least transform into ruthless megalomaniac dictators."

"Joy. Who wouldn't want one? They're so fluffy and cute." Arachne added.

Tiara slumped to the ground, not caring whose early grave she might be trespassing upon. "You know, there are very few simple truths that people have to understand to make the world a better place. Our problem is the same as it ever was: we're too dumb, too selfish and too greedy."

"True. Who can claim that they are perfect? Is God perfect? Or is He just really good at making decisions?"

"Technically, to the best of our knowledge, any superior being, if they are the One who created the world and everything in it; it stands to reason that they'd be the model of all that we know is good." Anael said.

"But is being perfect in accordance with the world the same as being perfect? If that is so then any moron with a following can go off and establish a country and make themselves supreme. Or not even bother. Just by committing suicide you can forever make yourself perfect in your own mind."

'But obviously, that is not what we're looking for."

"Of course not. It's not what anyone is looking for. Ending the search does not mean finishing it." Lailah spoke, into the air, into the empty air.

"Ah, elusive truth. Wouldn't we all love a piece?"

"I don't think the problem is acquiring wisdom. Everyone has a conscience, anyway-"

"-We need to learn how to use it?"

"Exactly."

"Which is better, fulfilment or happiness?"

_It's interesting, having a discussion where you can see everyone's thoughts anyway. But, it's fun. Knowing their thoughts does not mean knowing their next response._

"Being dumbly happy and being sadly happy."

"Dumbly happy anyday," Arachne nodded.

"But when it all comes crashing down…?"

"Isn't that why we're here?" Tiara burst in. "Weren't we all dumbly happy of some sort, and our world came crashing around us?"

"We're dead anyway. What does it matter?"

"It matters a lot. In the end, how you come out of the game you played is more important than how well you did, isn't it? Everyone dies at some point or another—"

"Except angels."

"—but since we're dumped into life, it only stands to reason that the important thing is what you do with the time and options you're given between your birth and your death. And how you come out of it is almost just as important, isn't it?"

"Hum. I guess that means I failed." Lailah sighed.

"With that attitude, yeah." Arachne seemed to come to a decision. "Come on babies, I want you to meet some friends of a friend of some other friends of mine."

* * *

AN: Man, long time coming AND short. Goodness. Sorry. Then again, if I made it any longer, I'm convinced I'd have screwed it up somehow. If you're interested in reading this as I am in writing, please make it personal and continue the discussion and drop me a line or something X) I'd love to hear. You might give me (even) more ideas.


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